Instructions

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues
respectively.
.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

RESHMA RAGOONATH
reshma.ragoonath@guardian.co.tt
"Here every creed and race finds an equal place
This prolific line in our national anthem seems
so idealistic given this racially charged week,
but for Rashmi Mathur it is the very essence
of her "People of Trinidad and Tobago"
Facebook group.
People of T&T which was inspired by
the widely popular photoblogs---Humans
of New York by New York photographer
Brandon Stanton, profiles everyday cit-
izens sharing their thoughts and stories.
At present People of T&T has 17,884 likes
and profiled just over 70 people of various
races and ages since it first started in May
2014.
Mathur, an optometrist of Cascade, said
some of those featured on the Facebook page
liken it to a form of cleansing, and those who
read it draw inspiration from the stories.
"Everybody has a story to tell," Mathur said
smiling as she sat down with the Sunday Guardian
for an interview last week at her Point Lisas offi
She said one of the concerns she had when she st
the photoblogs was if people would say we are a
small country and to put everything out there...
However she said once she started she found that "people
actually want to share their story. They want witness to their story, to what they went
through.
"They want to say this happened to me but I overcame it. This happened to me and I
do not want the same to happen to someone else. So there was a giving in what they were
saying and it was so apparent from early on," Mathur said.
She said starting the photoblog was a way for her to combine her passion for photography
and her love for T&T.
Mathur, whose elder sister is Sunday Guardian columnist Ira Mathur, was born in India and
came to Tobago along with her family at the age of nine.
"My father was building the Claude Noel Highway in Tobago at the time. So we went to school
there. I went to Scarborough RC and then Bishop s High School. I went away to study and after
that, my family came back to T&T. I lived in Tobago from the age of nine to 16," she said.
Mathur said having lived in Tobago during her formative years and then Trinidad later on, she
developed a special affection for both islands.
"I have developed such a love of T&T. A real, real love of it. I came from India and I studied
aboard. What Trinidad has is so unique, so special, so beautiful and me having the outsider s view
somewhat, I appreciate it so much. Seeing African people, Chinese people, Indian people, French
Creole, all these races and they just live together
and they accept each other. Everyone does every-
thing and it is just so great. No one ever thinks
well that is not my religion so I not doing anything,
or I do not understand that so that is not going
to be part of my life," she said.
Mathur said it was this comradery and oneness
among the people of T&T that she wanted to cap-
• Twitter: @GuardianTT • Web: guardian.co.tt
SUNDAY, MARCH 22, 2015
A27
The First Church of Christ Scientist, Port-
of-Spain, will be hosting a public Christian
Science lecture today at 4.30 pm in the church
auditorium at 52 Richmond Street, Port-of-
Spain.
The lecture is titled, Living In The King-
dom of Heaven Right Here and Now and
will be given by José de Dios Mata, a member
of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship
in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Originally from Spain, de Dios has been living
in the US for several years, and working for the
Government for a decade, the last five being
spent as a special agent in the Intelligence Serv-
ices. In his personal life, he faced an enormous chal-
lenge in early 1979. A relative s sudden illness, for
which the doctors could find no cure, as well as his
own almost complete loss of hearing due to a con-
genital lesion, which de Dios was told would require
immediate surgery or result in total deafness.
He could not continue in his position at work
until he had surgery which forced him to seek a
solution to these difficulties. de Dios chose not to
have surgery. After trying a series of different alter-
natives, in December of that year, he was introduced
to Christian Science by a doctor, his guitar student,
who knew of his reluctance towards conventional
medicine and encouraged him to explore this system
of spiritual healing. Both situations were quickly
and completely healed solely through reading the
textbook of this religion, Science and Health with
Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
Rashmi Mathur,
the creator of
popular Facebook
group People of
Trinidad and Tobago.
José de Dios Mata
• People of T&T...
ture and wanted to show to citizens and to the
world.
She explained that in 2013 she briefly lost sight
in one of her eyes in when she developed a tear
in her retina which was repaired by laser treatment.
It was after the scare that Mathur, a mother of
two, decided to use the gift of her regained vision
and her camera lens to show Trinbagonians the
beauty of the people that surround them everyday.
She said when she first came across Humans of
New York she was blown away by the "incredible
human connection between people" that Stanton
found and showed through his photoblogs.
"At that time I did not think that it (photoblogs)
was something I could every remotely do at the
time. I really am not tech savvy, I barely know how
to upload my own pictures," she said laughing
heartily.
However, she said it was on her niece s urgings
Continued on Page A28
Christian Scientist church lecture today